Algerian doctors are expanding a pay strike and teachers are resuming one, representatives said on Tuesday, putting pressure on President …..
Medical students and specialist doctors in several hospitals on Tuesday joined a strike by family doctors that has already been weakening health care in Algiers and other major cities for the last four months.
The protests come at a time of political uncertainty โ Bouteflika, 81, has barely appeared in public since suffering a stroke in 2013.
โOur colleagues the students and our colleagues the specialists have decided to show support by joining the strike,โ Mohamed Toualeb, a spokesman for the strikers, told Reuters, without giving numbers.
โThe government is unable to address our demands,โ he said. โSo we are calling on Bouteflika to find a solution to our problems.โ
Teachers plan to launch new a strike on April 9, a labor union said, in disappointment that government promises after an earlier protest had not led to any concrete action.
โWe will go for a strike of two days per week,โ the teacherโs union said a statement.โ
Several weeks ago Bouteflika, in office since 1999, defused a three-month teachersโ strike that had shut down hundreds of schools by promising to find a solution.
In 2011, the government took the sting out of protests by raising social spending – but this time, money is much shorter as energy revenues, which make up 60 percent of state income, have halved since 2014 due to low prices.
A well-known religious leader asked by the government to mediate has had no success.
โOngoing strikes are evidence that the government has not found the formula to defuse social timebombs,โ said political analyst Farid Ferrari.
A list of potential new ministers has already been circulated on social media and a private TV channel, but officials were not available to comment on it.